


raw

by dolcemorte



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Feelings, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Piers has depression and self-worth problems, and body issues, high res pic of a monkey at a typewriter, raihan is raihan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:34:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21768454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dolcemorte/pseuds/dolcemorte
Summary: love is an ebbing, flowing tide.
Relationships: Raihan (Pokemon)/ Piers (Pokemon), piers/raihan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 155





	raw

Really, he should be dead. Oi. Raihan tries not to get on Piers' nerves too much, lest he find himself at the mercy of Obstagoon's claws. The beast always eyed him warily, like a predator sizing up prey, long tongue lolling around a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Real nightmare, that thing. The two were a real pair, with the imposing Pokemon being pretty protective. He'd been kicked out a room by the rowdy 'mon before. Piers tended to forgive him easily, but that was harder to explain to burly, clawed beast. He never fought the thing because of it, it would only make things worse to hurt his partner's Pokemon outside a battle. Not that a Dragon type trainer should judge. 

Piers could get a little _colourful_ with his insults, too. He's his own lyricist for a reason. Twisting words to entertain the masses and to rip his heart to shreds, too. Funny how that works. He did go a bit too far, to be honest, went just a _little_ too far. Like careening off a cliff without a parachute, or swimming into the waiting maw of a Gyarados. Their relationship was like diving head first into the deep end of a pool, love like drowning in the ocean. Usually, Raihan likes chaos, the difficulty and visceral nature of life and man untamed. 

Raihan naturally had an easier time telling Piers he loved him, and Piers would look at him funny every time. Like he didn't believe a word he said. He wasn't that dense, he could read the punk's expressions well enough to know the words bothered him. He'd go quiet, disheartened by the change in his love. Mind suddenly stuck wondering if the musician really liked him back like he seemed to. Maybe they were both stumbling along, pretending this was something real when it was just a mirage. Piers had called him selfish and stormed off after they got into it, happening so fast it gave him whiplash. A man who has so much can still be left wanting, and if so, if he selfish? Is he selfish for wanting Piers to love him? To say it back? Life gives and takes a like a churning, endless sea.

The two have always fumbled around with their feelings. Raihan like Rhydon in a glassware store and Piers was languid as a Meowth. Piers avoided the 'boyfriend' label like it was about to grow fangs and maul him. The silence between them could be choking at times and Raihan had gotten a little too heated about it. He was tired of faffing around about their feelings, but Piers had always been a little insecure about, well, almost everything. the Dragon Trainer would probe a little too much and open a cut, let all the old blood ooze out. Those were always the _hardest_ to close.

His charming smiles couldn't suture every wound.

\--

Messy hair shrouded around his shoulders in harsh, inky blacks and soft pearled whites as the Gym Leader turned full-timed musician fiddled with a pen, turning it around between his thin fingers. Piers wasn't unlike a carnivorous plant, sharp teeth and spewing acid to defend his softer insides. His eyes like were diamonds in the dim flat, all light and sharp edges. Pale light like the shine of the moon. The pain in his righteous anger surely hurt more than the tearing of Obstagoon's claws ripping him to ribbons. Anger was a shield protecting his heart, full of sorrow and scarred tissue. Who falls in love with the ugly shadow of society, the personification of urban decay in the barely functional flesh? Love just salted his wounds. 

Danse Macabe. The dance of life and death, preforming for the husks of man. Preforming until he died. Piers knew he was rough, skinny and corpse-like, with a slight amble to his gait. Giving him the time of the day was only a means to an end. It was for talent or fame - not for his looks, or for his heart. Certainly not for all of himself. He was not a man with a warm embrace, a bright smile or a soft body. He was a wound rubbed raw, crusted and bleeding. His heart an aching thing, fit to burst through muscle and sinew to climb out. Free himself.

Needless to say he wasn't pleased when Raihan came looking for him in Spikemuth, not when he knew what the Leader really thought of him. He was a coward and prop for his popularity, nothing more. He wanted to rush into a relationship so he could brag about it. Nothing more. 

"I could 'ave you escorted out." Piers fingers Obstagoon's pokeball in a clear warning. 

Raihan quickly raises his hands in surrender, neon lights casting his face alight in bright colors. Piers hated the look of remorse reflected in his eyes, to think he may have been hurt in return. That their relationship had become this double-edged sword. Was love always like this? Piers didn't have enough experience to know for sure. He isn't sure what he wants at times.

"I'm not here for a fight. I treasure what we have, really, I do. 'M sorry, things didn't come out the way I meant them too. I won't push ya, if you wanna keep seeing me, that is..." Raihan looks nervous for once, hand awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. He's disgustingly sincere. Piers wants to wipe that look from his face, if only to save his own heart.

"'M not a treasure. Nothin' 'bout me is." Piers murmurs, thin fingers fiddling with the charm of his choker. Raihan fought the urge to take them in his hand, to feel his smooth, unnaturally pale skin against his own. Revel at how small, how seemingly fragile they looked against his own. There was nothing fragile about his anger.

"Sure ya are." Raihan grins, splitting his face and revealing gleaming fangs. If Piers was the moon, Raihan wanted to be his shining sun.

"I wouldn't spend so much time with ya if I didn't like it. Didn't like ya, lout."

Piers frowns, mouth a tight line as he mulls over the man's words. Raihan makes time for him, comes to almost all his concerts when he can. Doesn't even post online about some of them. He does it for himself, for the both of them. Maybe it was his own self-hate that was blinding, choking him again. Insecurities trying to push away one of the few things that he really loved. He wants to go further, wants to be more. The reality is that he was scared, and the hardest thing was admitting to himself he was scared. He doesn't want to push away Raihan like this.

"Yer a right tosser at times, ya know? Though I s'ppose you did apologize, fer what it's worth. So I guess I have to fergive ya. Real funny an' all." Piers huffs, ruffling his messy hair awkwardly. "I'm only lettin' ya off easy 'cause I love ya." He isn't one to go all mushy on anyone other than his sister, and even that has limits. He knows Raihan understands that. It must be love, because Piers wants to believe in him. 

"Yer gonna owe me, though." Piers grins, jagged as a knife wound. Voice taking a honeyed edge, something that both scared Raihan and made him a little excited.

"Ya hear? Right after our next date." 

"Ya, yeah." Raihan sighs, hanging his head. He's grinning under all his mock morose, trying to resist the urge to embrace the musician. He wouldn't have it any other way - neither of them would.

**Author's Note:**

> *gordon ramsay voice* it's fucking RAW


End file.
